Meeting Minutes Template: Top 6 Easiest Guides That Will Help You To Write An Effective Meeting Minutes In 2021
How Do I Write Minutes Of A Meeting?
Taking accurate meeting minutes during a board meeting is a crucial and rewarding task. Board meeting minutes are more than just a summary of the board's deliberations; they also serve as an official and legal record of the meeting.
Minutes are used for a number of purposes, including documenting progress, laying out future goals, and acting as a point of reference. Your meeting minutes should include a record of motions, votes, and abstentions, among other things.
When it comes to writing efficient minutes for a meeting, you'll essentially have four procedures to follow as a secretary. You'll have to spend some time planning ahead of time, taking notes during the meeting, and writing a formal report afterward. You'll also be in charge of filing and disseminating meeting minutes.
Step 1: Preparation For The Board Meeting
It's vital to remember that every company records minutes differently while learning how to take meeting minutes for a board meeting. Have a conversation with the board president about any existing or expected formats you'll be using. Examine previous meeting minutes for a template. Request a copy of the meeting agenda from the board president, together with the names of all participants, including visitors and speakers.
Step 2: Take Notes At The Board Meeting
Unless your company compels you to type notes during meetings, you have the option of typing them or writing them longhand. You may keep better structured minutes by using a robust meeting minutes template. When learning how to take minutes during a board meeting, the two most crucial items to remember are what information to record and how to present it.
You should include the following items in your minutes for a board meeting:
Date of the meeting
Names of those who attended the meeting and those who did not.
Corrections and additions to the minutes of earlier meetings
New items to be added to the current agenda
Is there a quorum in the room?
Motions that have been accepted or rejected
There was a motion and a second, and the vote ended in a tie.
Actions that have been taken or that have been agreed to be taken
Steps to take next
Items to be kept in reserve
New business
Public participation or open discussion
Date and time of the next meeting
Date and time of adjournment
It's just as vital to explain the conversations at a board meeting as it is to give all of the information in the items above. Write a concise statement of each action made by the board for each agenda item, along with a brief explanation of the rationale for their choice. If the arguments are lengthy, write a short summary of the main points.
Avoid aggressive statements and personal views when recording talks. Avoiding adjectives and adverbs wherever feasible is a smart approach to achieve this. Make sure your language is precise, straightforward, and comprehensive.
Minutes are an official and legal record of the board meeting, as previously stated. Meeting minutes are considered to be correct in a legal context and can be used as legal proof of the facts they record. Document board meetings to ensure that the actions and objectives of the board directors are correctly reflected. Because boards are legally liable, keep facts short and the language simple to prevent legal entanglements that might put the organization at a disadvantage in court. When documenting motions and seconds, just use names.
You'll want to create the official record as soon as possible after the meeting, when everything is still fresh in your mind, so prepare it as soon as possible following the meeting.
Is There A Meeting Minutes Template In Word?
Record And Document A Pta, Business, Or Club Meeting’s Minutes With A Minutes Template
With a meeting minutes template in Microsoft Word, recording and documenting meetings is now easier than ever. Meeting minutes templates capture all of the crucial data in the manner that your school, business, or organization requires. Election results, committee reports, budgets, special announcements, and more are all kept on file.
Each item on the agenda, the presenter, the discussion, the conclusions, the action items, the owners, and the deadlines are all included in a minutes of meeting template. Each meeting minutes template's clean structure and easy formatting aid note takers in staying on track and concentrating on meeting content and flow.
Whether or not they were present at the meeting, club members or workers may quickly explore things on the minutes template to remain up to speed on the newest news.
Choose the meeting notes template to create your own minutes, or use a specialized minutes template, such as the educational, PTA meeting, or informal meeting design. From the selection of meeting minutes templates, pick the one that works best for your organization.
What Is The Best Format For Meeting Minutes?
While the phrase "meeting minutes" conjures up images of a courtroom transcriber hurriedly transcribing every word verbatim, the reality is far less tense.
We've all been to meetings when we left feeling much more perplexed than when we entered. Perhaps you don't fully comprehend the decisions that were made, or you're unclear of the next actions to take. When it comes to following up, no one appears to be on the same page. Meeting minutes are a simple way to address these issues.
Continue reading to learn more about:
What are meeting minutes and how important are they?
What is the best way to take successful meeting minutes?
A free meeting minutes template and sample to aid in the organization and productivity of your meetings.
What Do Meeting Minutes Entail?
Meeting minutes are a written record of everything that happens during a meeting. The minutes detail who, what, where, and when your meeting took place, ensuring that everyone was on the same page when they left. Fun fact: the name "minutes" refers to the transitive verb "minute" — which means "to write notes or a concise summary of" — rather than the unit of measurement of time.
The following items should be included in effective meeting minutes:
Names of those who will be attending the meeting
The date and time
Is there anything from the prior meeting that needs to be addressed? (if necessary)
The schedule is as follows:
During the meeting, key points were discussed.
Any decisions reached during the meeting are final.
Items to do (along with assignees for each)
A part dedicated to the parking lot (for future discussions)
What Is The Significance Of Meeting Minutes?
They assist people who were unable to attend the meeting in gaining a better understanding of what was discussed and any choices taken.
They motivate others to take action. Meeting minutes increase accountability and ensure everyone knows what work has to be done by serving as a reminder of the promises made by attendees during the meeting.
They can assist in resolving disagreements. They can assist prevent misconceptions by providing a written record of events and talks. In the event of a disagreement, the meeting minutes serve as a neutral third party.
They help your business save time and money. If individuals aren't sure what the meeting's action items are, they'll either waste time attempting to figure it out or go on and risk focusing on the wrong tasks. These expensive scenarios can be avoided by holding meetings.
What's The Difference Between Minutes And Notes From A Meeting?
“I take notes during meetings, so this is practically the same thing,” you would assume. Meeting minutes have a defined framework, which makes them easier to record and utilize than meeting notes, which have a more casual and free approach.
You won't have to waste time trying to figure out how to style your notes or figuring out which points correspond to which discussions. While you may be familiar with your particular shorthand or note format, others may not, reducing their usefulness to the rest of the team.
Meeting minutes enable you to clearly and objectively set out and analyze the substance of the meeting for everyone engaged, not just the note taker.
How to write meeting minutes at work as a beginner
How To Write Meeting Minutes
While you might be tempted to start scribbling down every word of every conversation, transcribing does not make for very useful meeting minutes (nobody wants to spend 40 minutes reading the conversations from a 30-minute meeting). You'll also be unable to contribute since you'll be too preoccupied with writing or typing.
Meeting minutes should highlight the high-level insights and information your team will need, with human attention spans growing shorter and shorter and “skim reading” becoming the norm. And it should do it in a reader-friendly, easy-to-skim style.
How Do You Write Minutes After A Meeting?
How To Write Meeting Minutes In English
Close The Meeting
Summarize the group's achievements, action points, and choices, and make a strategy for the next step.
I would like to express my gratitude to the members of the group for their involvement and efforts. You may also request feedback.
After The Meeting: The Meeting Minutes
Actions, choices, major points, and documentation by topic should be typed down in a logical, not chronological, way. Including a brief summary grouped by person and project at the start of the minutes also aids your colleagues in identifying the activities they need to do for the next meeting at a glance.
To summarize the decision and action plan, provide the meeting minutes to all attendees.
What Is The Format For Writing Minutes?
Minutes are written accounts of a meeting's proceedings.
The following items are included in the minutes:
A header - include the meeting's convenors, location, date, and time.
List all of the members in attendance, beginning with the chairman, secretary, and treasurer.
List names of members who are missing but have requested permission to be away, i.e. they have submitted apologies.
Members who are missing but have not sent apologies – make a list of those who are absent but have not sent apologies.
Guests are occasionally asked to attend. The names of such visitors are mentioned below.
The agenda is a numbered list of the topics that will be covered during the meeting.
Minutes - Each minute symbolizes a debate subject. These have a unique numbering system. They are then highlighted. First, you write Min, then a full stop (. ); then you write the number (1, 2, 3, etc.) followed by a stroke (/) and the year, which is commonly shortened (e.g. 06 for 2006), e.g. Min. 1/06 Minutes should be written in the past tense and should be simple and straightforward.
Remember to utilize active or specific sentences rather than passive or ambiguous ones.
Members agreed, the chairman requested, the members resolved, proposed, and other terms were used.
How Detailed Should Meeting Minutes Be?
At every board and general meetings, minutes should be preserved. Keeping minutes indicates that your organisation is operating as a company if it is incorporated. It's also one approach to keep your executives safe from individual responsibility that comes with incorporation.
You may also wish to record minutes at committee meetings for organizational objectives. Keep minutes at any meeting when people vote as a general rule. There are four sorts of information that should be included in minutes:
The meeting's time, date, and venue.
The fact that the meeting was properly announced in advance or that notification was waived by those in attendance.
Who was in attendance (names of board members or an estimate of the number of individuals in attendance) and was there a quorum?
The formal acts performed by the participants at the conference (motions made and approved or defeated).
The following items are not needed to be included in minutes:
Those who make and second moves are identified by their names.
Each motion's vote (the number of people who voted for and against it).
The specifics of the debate that took place on each motion.
About The Authors
Steve Martins- I am a certified graphic designer and I earned my bachelor’s degree in Communication Design. I worked with many brands like Uniqlo and Huawei but also independent smaller Barcelonian brands like Caravelle and Madrid’s Hola Coffee and I have completed over 2000 projects in the last 5 years.